Taste (Gustaoception) and Oral Stimulation

Strategies to support children with sensory needs involving taste

Hyposensitivity

Children who are hyposensitive to taste have a much higher threshold before they taste foods. They are often under-stimulated inside the mouth generally. This often leads to sensory seeking behaviour involving placing things in their mouths. Strategies that can support them include:

Support these children's sensory seeking behaviour by providing safe things that they can put in their mouths like mouth fidgets and chew toys

Older children can benefit from chewing gum to reduce other chewing behaviour e.g. chewing end of pens.

Add crunchy foods to meals such as croutons in soups and salads, raw vegetables like carrot and cucumber sticks

Add spices to bland foods

Manage excessive salt use by not using it during cooking and letting child add a small amount of salt to the food on their plate.

Hypersensitivity

Children who are hypersensitive to taste have a much lower threshold before they taste foods. They are often over-stimulated inside the mouth generally. This often leads to refusal behaviour as the child avoids unpleasant tastes and oral sensations. Strategies that can support them include:

Young children who may be reluctant to try different foods because of taste and texture can be supported by encouraging food play, finger painting and model making with foods and using fingers to explore textures

Some children may benefit from talking about food, sorting, classifying them by taste, colour or texture